South-East Asian Paralympic Committees receive support

“We look forward to hearing from all 18 Programme Leads about the achievements of their national workshops.”

The Agitos Foundation and the Nippon Foundation are supporting three training workshops in Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Cambodia and the Philippines in December aimed at strengthening their National Paralympic Committees (NPCs).

The sessions will be the first to take place as part of the Agitos Foundation’s Organisational Capacity Programme (OCP) which helps countries to take existing knowledge and resources that currently exist in NPCs – in areas such as governance and planning, athlete development, marketing & communication

On 14 December key stakeholders, such as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Sports and Education, the Ministry of Public Health, the National Olympic Committee, National Federations and DPOs (Disabled People’s Organisations) gathered in Laos.

Their focus was on ensuring the NPC governance structure meets with International Paralympic Committee (IPC) requirements. It was supported by Japanese Non-Governmental Organisation, the Asian Development with the Disabled Persons (ADDP).

Yuki Nakamura from the ADDP said: “I am so happy to see this positive attitude of the Laos Paralympic Committee (LPC). We, the ADDP, also spare no efforts to support their capacity building to recognise that good governance and transparent organisational management should be realised by the concerted efforts of all stakeholders. LPC’s reform is a really imperative and necessary step.”

Through group work and interactive activities, the workshop will look at the current governance structure and evaluate its compliance with IPC requirements. A plan that will allow the LPC to strengthen its governance structures but also addresses the development of the Paralympic Movement in the country will be created.

In the Philippines, a workshop on 22 December will gather NPC decision makers, governing board and key staff to analyse the current NPC structure against IPC requirements.

An evaluation of the challenges and opportunities will also be made to support future strategic planning. Participants will be encouraged to reflect on good governance and how it can further be applied within the NPC.

Concluding the year in Cambodia, a workshop on 28-29 December will gather NPC staff and focus on athlete development.

The NPC governance structure and how it enables successful athlete development, the role of the NPC and of member organisations and relevant national laws will be looked at.

Marketing and communications of athletes and the importance of Para sport will also be a topic.

One of the main workshop outcomes will be a development plan for coaches, officials and classifiers for the next two years.

All three workshops are a result of a partnership between the Agitos Foundation and the Japan Sport Council which kicked-off in Tokyo, Japan, in October. Two Programme Leads were trained with the aim of them returning to their countries to organise their own workshops.

Takumi Kawahara of the Japan Sport Council said: “The training workshop in Tokyo is the starting point of a journey. It is important for the Programme Leads to carry out national workshops as process of journey toward Tokyo 2020 and beyond.

We are so glad to hear news that several Programme Leads already started preparation of national workshops in cooperation with their colleagues of the NPCs.

“This news encourages us to continue our international contribution through sport, particularly Para sport.

“We look forward to hearing from all 18 Programme Leads about the achievements of their national workshops.”

The OCP will continue in Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam in December, where NPCs will hold their first workshops in January 2017.